Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Day 5 - Granola - Oh, yeah Baby!!!

Wow! This turned out so good! I hope you like it!

I am trying to get this posted before I run out the door to Bible Study...see, I promised Jess of the beautiful face that I would get it posted tonight, and I would hate to dissapoint her! So here is the quick and dirty...well, not dirty, but the quick how to!

First, I rolled 2 cups of oat groats...this would equal about 4 cups of rolled oats from a can with a cheery man's face on it. To this, I added 3C of water and 1/4 cup of whey. You could also use milk kefir...just something with some active culture. What we are doing here is breaking down the bad guys in the grain a bit, so it is more digestible. You will let this sit out on the counter for 12-24 hours.

Next, you will use a slotted spoon to drain some of the liquid out...this will aid drying time in the dehydrator.

Now, spread out the oats on a drying sheet (the same one you use for fruit leather). We used a fork, so it was not smoothed down, just evenly distributed. Dry at 115 degrees.

After 3 hours, bring out the trays and break up the granola, spreading it evenly over the trays again.

Back in the dryer again for 2 hours, then I mixed up the granola mix: 3/4 of a banana mashed, 1/4 + 1/8 Cup maple syrup, 1/4 + 1/8 C almond butter, 3/4-1 tsp good vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt. (sorry for the wierd measurements...I had more oats than the recipe called for). Mix well, then mix in oats. Spread back out on trays for an hour and a half. This will get it dry enough to eat, but if you are going to store it, keep it in the dehydrator til it is crunchy dry.

Finished granola...we served it with the yogurt we made yesterday...see Day 4!

A look inside:

On Living the Dream...
Since I was a kid, it has always been my dream to be a stay at home mom with lots of kids. When I was older and learned about homeschooling, I added that to my list as well. Fast forward a whole lot of years and I am finally "living my dream"! We had been married for 18 years when we adopted our first two kids and added the third a year later.
Things were rough at first, and I often asked myself if this is what I had really wanted. But God has been faithful and blessed me beyond measure! Now we have three kids, 7-11, and yes, we will welcome more (when God sees fit to bring them to us).
Things still get crazy around here, but I just try and picture Christ, sleeping in that boat amidst the storm. And I now make it a priority to spend time with Him every morning. My day just goes so much more smoothly!!
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